The Discipline of Feeling (Intuitive Writing)

When was the first time you heard the phrase intuitive writing?

I probably, heard it coined this way from the late legendary writer Ray Bradbury.  Notice I said coined this way because I think Robert Wallace was towing the same line when he wrote up the phrase ‘random writing’ in his book ‘Writing Poems.’

The best way a writer achieves or perfects writing intuitively is through the discipline of his emotions or feeling. This is the state of inventiveness Bradbury refers to as writing from the heart or writing with little or no interference from the mental faculty. This level of creativeness involves transferring raw emotions directly to the page thereby, turning intangible material into meaningful coordinated form of writing.

So, how exactly do you go about this seemingly complicated method of flow? I'm a little bit in the know with stuff like this. I got my gears well oiled from years of practice long before I came across the twin phrases listed above. I tried it with lyrics then poetry. I'll have some tune dropped in my heart and I'll just go with the muse and set the sound to words. I bet a lot of folks reading this didn't know that sort of thing falls under intuitive writing. But it does.

Writing in this way doesn't come easy sometimes; you just have to take the plunge-nothing on your mind, not even the faintest idea where the whole shebang would come out or what exactly it is you are dribbling about. I wrote a lot of poetry straddling that line.

Stephen King calls it writing without an outline, going with the flow, or listening to the muse. And you can master it by consistently striving to dredge up words from that bottomless void-that incitive convolution of nameless emotions inside you. If you look into the deep long enough, you go deep. And that's a given.

Practice. Practice. Practice. Until it becomes a bad habit that hangs around even when you're totally unaware of it.

Scribble one word on paper, any word, then string it up with another then another until it creates a meaning. Is that a picture in your mind? Recreate it on paper with words. If you see this in the realm of the impossible maybe, it's cause you're trying to see the finished product before you start. That's not writing intuitively, at all.

The magic of intuitive writing lies in falling and getting right back up only to start all over again even though, you are aware you might bust your nose walking into a wall the next minute. It is the expectant certainty that eventually, you're going to be alright.

Keep your pens bleeding!

Akpan